Cairn(s)

Fieldnotes

I've been looking at the Gop recently, and I believe that it was a complex site of major ritual importance, going far beyond the cairn itself.

First, the entrance to the cave on the south side of the hill. It seems to have been cut away to form a limestone backdrop and platform reminiscent of the entrance to the chambered tomb at Newgrange.

Second, there is another excavated area, rather larger but similar in shape, near the bottom of the hill just on the outskirts of Trelawnyd.

Third, the Gop itself and six tumuli form a ring which very closely mimics the ring of stars in the Pleiades, but in mirror form (as they would be if the stars were to "fall to Earth"). The Pleiades cluster actually contains 13 stars, nine of which are represented on the ground. The missing four would have been close the present day roads and may have been destroyed. There are a lot of other tumuli in the area, of course, but these make a remarkably accurate fit.

Fourth, Gop Hill itself is the head of a recumbent figure. Viewed from the Clwyd valley near Abergele, Gop Hill is her head, Moel Hirradug ot the right of it is her pregnant belly, and the hill to the right of that is her knees.